Golden State Warriors' head coach Mark Jackson looks on from the sidelines during the 1st period of their game with the San Antonio Spurs Thursday, April 26, 2012, in Oakland, Calif.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Golden State Warriors' head coach Mark Jackson looks on from the...

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Warriors head coach, Mark Jackson, looks up from the sidelines during the game against the Bulls. The Golden State Warriors played the Chicago Bulls at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, December 26, 2011. The Warriors won 99-91.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Warriors head coach, Mark Jackson, looks up from the sidelines...

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It was a long season for first-year head coach Mark Jackson, who tried to guide the Warriors to respectability despite rampant injuries to his players and two late-season trades, including one that dealt leading scorer Monta Ellis to Milwaukee.

Photo: John Storey, Special To The Chronicle

It was a long season for first-year head coach Mark Jackson, who...

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Golden State Warriors' head coach Mark Jackson, reacts to a missed play during the first half of their NBA game in Oakland with the Sacramento Kings Saturday, December 17, 2011.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Golden State Warriors' head coach Mark Jackson, reacts to a missed...

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Monta Ellis was dealt to Milwaukee on March 13.

Photo: Alex Brandon, Associated Press

Monta Ellis was dealt to Milwaukee on March 13.

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Warriors power forward David Lee is the anchor of the frontcourt; next season, he'll be playing alongside center Andrew Bogut, who hasn't suited up yet for Golden State, and possibly a rookie small forward.

Photo: Chris Young, Associated Press

Warriors power forward David Lee is the anchor of the frontcourt;...

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Former general manager Larry Riley engineered two late-season trades.

Photo: Paul Sakuma, Associated Press

Former general manager Larry Riley engineered two late-season trades.

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Owner Joe Lacob doesn't want to view the draft-lottery process again.

Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle

Owner Joe Lacob doesn't want to view the draft-lottery process again.

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Basketball operations GM Kirk Lacob graduated from Stanford in 2010.

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

Basketball operations GM Kirk Lacob graduated from Stanford in 2010.

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Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers speaks during an interview on Thursday, June 7, 2012, at the NBA draft combine in Chicago.

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers speaks during an...

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A prospect interviews with (from left) Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers, head coach Mark Jackson and assistant general manager of basketball operations Kirk Lacob on Thursday, June 7, 2012, during the NBA draft combine in Chicago. After morning workouts and meeting with the media, prospects met with executives with teams potentially interested in signing them.

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

A prospect interviews with (from left) Golden State Warriors...

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Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers speaks during an interview on Thursday, June 7, 2012, at the NBA draft combine in Chicago.

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers speaks during an...

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Prospect Damian Lillard of Weber State University answers questions from the media on Thursday, June 7, 2012, during the NBA draft combine in Chicago

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

Prospect Damian Lillard of Weber State University answers questions...

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Prospect Damian Lillard of Weber State University answers questions from the media on Thursday, June 7, 2012, during the NBA draft combine in Chicago

Photo: Jeff Cagle, Special To The Chronicle

Prospect Damian Lillard of Weber State University answers questions...

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Golden State Warriors General Manager Bob Myers speaks during an interview on Thursday, June 7, 2012, at the NBA draft combine in Chicago.

First of three parts

The basketball-operations staff was dealing with traffic on Interstate 80, heading to Sacramento, where the team's head coach was wandering the bowels of Power Balance Pavilion and its players were staring in disbelief at an undersized locker-room TV.

It was May 30, and the Warriors were elated.

The basketball-operations staff was exchanging handshakes and hugs, the head coach found a sense of exoneration, and the players knew help was on the way.

Less than 11 weeks had passed, but in those 2 1/2 months, a franchise known for its bad luck, worse moves and infighting - and lots and lots of losing - became a franchise that possessed lucky charms, made significant transactions and reaped the No. 7 pick in the draft as the ends to its chosen means.

What the transformation took was a commitment to losing.

Tanking.

"We were stuck," team executive Larry Riley said. "Do you want to be stuck three games below .500 at this time of year, every year? That's where we were.

"And that's where we were going again next year if we didn't do something."

March 13

Riley, the general manager, and Bob Myers, who would take over that post in April, were racing from Oakland to Sacramento, intent on telling Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown in person that they had been traded to Milwaukee for Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson. Riley and Myers couldn't make the 1 1/2-hour drive in time.

The news leaked, Mark Jackson learning during a pregame interview and players from a scroll across the bottom of a tiny TV screen in the locker room.

Knowing he had lost Ellis, his best player, in a deal for Bogut, who wouldn't play that season because of injury, Jackson set off on a walk to nowhere - drifting back and forth and through courtside tunnels in the basement of the arena.

The players were mostly despondent, looking through the TV, seeking walls or taking extra attention with their shoelaces.

One player asked, "So we're giving up on the season?"

Another said, "I can feel my hip hurting already."

Dorell Wright went on record. He said, "I'm not talking about that trade crap."

The Warriors were 18-21 at the time, two games out of the final playoff position and three games out of sixth. They would lose 22 of their final 27 games.

They started three rookies 19 times, four rookies seven times and were the first team since it started being charted in 1970-71 to start five rookies. The experienced players were said to have injuries, and though some headed off for surgery, others worked out pregame, suited up for games and were told to stay seated.

During the final week of the season, one player was asked why he looked so good in warm-ups but wasn't playing. He responded, "Tanking, brother," in a sing-song voice as he danced off into the trainer's room.

Though it all, Jackson claimed that he didn't know the details of the Warriors' draft-pick situation and that the team wasn't tanking.

They had plenty of reasons to do so.

Because of a 2009 trade, the Warriors would lose their first-round draft pick if it fell outside the top seven, and with each win, their chances of keeping the pick were lessened.

"What I'm thinking in my mind, which shouldn't pass my lips: You can't win," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "To me, the purpose of the draft is a worthy purpose: for fans and markets whose team has been losing to get an earlier draft pick and a chance at better improvement. ... It's a subject that will be continually studied."

May 30

By the day of the draft lottery in New York, the Warriors had lost enough games that they had a 72 percent chance of keeping their pick.

Though most teams could move up or back three spots in the draft, the Warriors were in an all-or-nothing situation. The importance of the day was specified when a Warriors public-relations staffer was replaced in the back room of the lottery by Joe Lacob, the Warriors' co-owner.

Lacob had managed to stay cool during the pre-lottery cocktail party, laughing along with Myers' anecdotes of his daughter's lucky blanket and co-owner Peter Guber's stories about his lucky prehistoric shark tooth.

Then, the ping-pong balls that would decide the fate of the Warriors' future began to whirl in a plastic drum. That's when Lacob's nerves bubbled to the surface.

"This was my first time in the back room at the lottery, and it will be my last," Lacob said. "Oh, God, it was horrible. I didn't know if I could take it. I just wanted to know the results and get it over with."

The way the drawing works is different from how it's presented on TV, for which they count down from 14 to 1. In the back room, they simply draw balls for the top three picks. Once those are settled, the rest of the teams remain in the order in which they started.

When New Orleans won the first pick, Lacob did little more than look to the heavens in thanks. The Hornets were already ahead of the Warriors in the draft, so that was one team that wouldn't be passing them. When Charlotte made it two, he sat up in his seat and quietly said, "Please, one more."

Then the real drama.

Another New Orleans number was drawn, so they had to spin again.

"Oh, my God," Lacob said through a huge nervous smile. "Oh, my Lord."

Another Charlotte number was drawn. Try it one more time.

Finally, a Washington number combination was chosen for the third pick. Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld turned to Lacob from a nearby table.

"You guys ended up OK, right?" Grunfeld asked.

They had.

"This is huge," Lacob responded. "But it's unbelievable to have to watch this stupid thing."

Devastation to elation

Lacob had to sit in the back room while the lottery unfolded for a TV audience upstairs in the ABC studio. The telecast was complete with background music and a game show flair that created a palpable tension.

Lacob shook off his nerves by talking about potential draft selections and trades as he celebrated. He took a cargo elevator upstairs about an hour later and sought out Myers and Guber to exchange smiles, handshakes and hugs in celebration of the pick they won by losing.

"This doesn't mean we've solved all of our issues. We have work to do," said Myers, who has picks Nos. 7, 30, 35 and 52 in his first draft as GM. "It's endless. We have a lot of options and can explore a lot of things. There are no boundaries now that we have that pick."

Editor's note: The Chronicle enjoyed unprecedented, behind- the-scenes access to the Warriors leading up to Thursday's draft, resulting in a three-part series on how the team is being rebuilt. Part I looks at the pursuit of a first-round pick through the late part of the season and the draft lottery.